it's not something that catholics are used to. but i do think it is a step in the right direction and could bode well for the future. >> woodruff: john allen, what about that? this notion that perhaps it's a statement that the office is more important than the person? >> well, i think benedict, to some extent in contrast to john paul ii who was such a swashbuckling charismatic figure, it was sometimes difficult to separate the office from the man. i think benedict has always been a kind of more humbler and lower-key figure. i mean, you can see that in several small toucheslon the way. his preference, for example, for celebrating his public masses inside st. peter's basilica rather than out in the square, so the focus was more on the worship space and the event rather than on him personally. his willingness to renounce some of the traditional symbols and titles of his office and so on. so i think there is something there. though at the end of the day, i also think there's a danger in trying to read too much into the faith value mea